joining us, chief european economist. ricar ricardo, thanks for joining us. so still a negative territory. what does this point to in terms of the economic decline for the fourth quarter? >> i think it's in line with the idea that real sgchlt dp will decline by at least 0.2%, possibly 0.3%. it will give us a negative entry point in 2013 when i expect an average growth of minus 0.2%. so still moderately recession territory. >> the german flash composite pmi 47.9, services 48, manufacturing 46.8, is germany -- we just saw the 0.2% print. is girl aermany going to have a negative contract? >> i'm looking for a contraction of minus 0.2. so only aed modest one. i expect activity will stabilize in q1 of next year, but obviously that requires a favorable external environment, meaning u.s. not going into this deep due to the fiscal cliff. and also signs of improvement in asia. >> meanwhile the french pmi says the survey there suggests a 0.7% gdp drop in quarter 4 for france. >> that seems quite large. we've seen in recent quarters numbers out of front which were highe